…Summary: “While Khartoum’s geopolitical impacts are felt across Africa; it must review and make the same of its social and economic role in the continent.”
…Summary: “While Khartoum’s geopolitical impacts are felt across Africa; it must review and make the same of its social and economic role in the continent.”
In 2014 ten public Sudanese universities signed memoranda of understanding (MoU) with the Islamic University in Uganda for a free staff development program. I, with other colleagues are beneficiaries of that framework.
As from elsewhere in Africa, scores of Ugandan students are annually enrolled for free undergraduate studies at the International African University in Khartoum. They undertake specialized disciplines like medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, surgery, engineering, architecture, information technology, agriculture, education et al. This is a tremendous social contribution to Africa by the Sudan and its partners—Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Egypt, Algeria and until lately Libya. Yet it’s not the first nor the last Sudanese contribution to Africa.
The Deep Geopolitical Effects
From the 1960s to late 80s, Khartoum actively supported African liberation movements— including providing physical and moral support against apartheid South Africa. This partly led to fall of two governments in Uganda. In 1969 president Dr Milton Obote ejected from Uganda foreign powers bent on using it as launch pad for destabilizing southern Sudan as a strategy to divert Khartoum’s focus from liberation efforts of central and South African countries. Two years later in 1971 an international conspiracy was blamed for a coup d’état against Obote while he attended a U. K-led Common Wealth Group of Nations Summit in Singapore. Idi Amin, who was aided to topple Obote, too, later found it unsustainable for the international conspiracy against Sudan while at the same time posturing against imperialist domination of Africa. He expelled Asian business interests and upon counsel by Libya’s Mu’ammar Qadaffi, ceased all Uganda-based foreign maneuvers against the Sudan. This made western capitalist capitals for once, join in the largely socialist dissident Ugandan groups hosted by communist Mualim Julius Nyerere in Tanzania. Amin was overthrown in 1979, silently being condemned internationally for abandoning the south Sudan project.
Today, though not a signatory to the Rome Statute of the international criminal court (ICC), Khartoum is singled for the diplomatic effort of making the ICC’s largest bloc of 34 African states parties consider withdrawing their membership from the Statute. Burundi, South Africa and Gabon are already ahead toward this. South Africa particularly cites the Statute’s antagonism with its traditional immunity practice—as its leader, Jacob Zuma was challenged to arrest President Omar al-Bashir on Jun 15, 2015 while he visited Pretoria in total defiance of the ICC indictments.
Insofar as the geopolitical and international relations across Africa are; Sudan’s impacts are pretty felt. It must, however, review and make the same of its social and economic role in the continent.
The Need for Additional Economic Factor
Beside former Somali president, Sharif Sheik Ahmed, who had an education stint in Sudan, foreign sponsored graduates, mainly from Muslim minority Africa—like Uganda, Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, CAR, DRC, Ghana et al—are finding it pretty hard to break through. They are neither significantly contributing to their communities nor actively engaged in daawa work. This calls for an additional effort on the part of host country Sudan and her partner governments. In Uganda, for example, Muslims are by the 2014 census, 13% of the 36 million Ugandans—implying are only about 4.7 million against 85% of the different forms of Christians. The Sudan Muslim graduates find it difficult to gain jobs from public institutions and those who by luck do; can hardly conduct daawa at the same time—to the extent that even pronouncing salaam alaikoum in presence of Christian bosses who favored them among thousands of job applicants is abandoned.
Therefore, in order to make the education offer more relevant and generate value par unit investment, Sudan must renegotiate with partners for a new approach. It should create a revolving fund to be accessed and later reimbursed by organized student associations. The fund can be used to establish income generating and job creating ventures in accordance with the students’ areas of specialization. A job security in a secure environment will make all Sudan University alumni positively contribute to the economies of their respective countries and earn a much enhanced social respect of engaging in daawa activities.
This way, Sudan together with partners will make a more expanded long lasting impact in Africa.
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